The Ultimate Grown-Up

Cadence the Skipper, October, 2010

Father Knows Best
Last fall we invited my daughter Elaine, our son-in-law Rob, and grandson Cadence to a cruise on our boat. We met at our marina and headed out into the wide Pacific, keeping an easy pace, as Elaine was eight months pregnant with Sawyer at the time.

After we’d cruised for a while, admiring sea lions, sea birds, and seaside homes clinging to the headlands, I murmered to Elaine, “Cadence can ‘drive’ for a bit if he wants to.” She nodded and turned to him.

“Do you want to drive Papa Rich and Lala’s boat?” she asked him.

He turned to her with one of those classic, “Mom, you’re nuts” expressions, all but rolling his eyes at her. “That’s a grown-up’s job!” he exclaimed.

We all chuckled. “Papa Rich will help you,” his mother explained to him.

Cadence was eager to drive the boat, once he realized the responsibility didn’t fall to him alone: his grandpa was right there with him, and would help him.

When I’m worried about some task or situation, I need to remember my grandson’s words: “That’s a grown-up’s job!” Our God is the ultimate grown-up. When I hand my cares over to my Father, who is right there with me, He will help me.

25″For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26″Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28″And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31″Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Matthew 6:25-32 (NASB)